CHICAGO (GreenBayPhoenix.com)
- The Green Bay men's and women's swimming and diving teams wrapped up a
successful four days at the 2013 Horizon League Championships on Saturday night
at the UIC Flames Natatorium in Chicago. The women's squad finished third in a
tight race for the team title, while the men's squad moved up a spot to fourth
place after finishing fifth in each of the last five seasons.

Green Bay accumulated 647 points on the women's side,
finishing 10.5 points behind second-place Cleveland State (657.5) and 41.5
points back of champion Milwaukee (688.5). The Phoenix edged UIC (646.5) for
third by just a half of a point. Green Bay scored 533.5 points on the men's
side, which was over 100 points more than it scored in last year's meet (432).

Aiding the men's team's improvement was freshman Willem Poelmans (Hasselt, Belgium), who
earned Horizon League Men's Newcomer of the Year honors after picking up a pair
of individual titles in record-breaking fashion. The newcomer first won
the 200-yard IM on Thursday with a Horizon League and school-record time of
1:49.06, and then claimed
the 400 IM in 3:52.85 on Friday while shattering another school record.
Both swims were also good enough for NCAA B-cuts.

The Phoenix women, who entered the day just 28.5 points
back of then-leader Cleveland State, could not have asked for a better start to
Saturday's finals as junior Kendra
Rottier (Green Bay, Wis.) and senior Melissa
Killpatrick (Elk River, Minn.) finished 1-2 in the night's opening event -
the 1650 freestyle. Rottier finished first in 16:50.94, marking her second
individual title of the meet, while Killpatrick touched in at 16:55.91.

Megan Burley
(Hazelhurst, Wis.) concluded her strong senior campaign with a third-place showing
in the 200 butterfly on Saturday, finishing in 2:06.36. Another senior, Heather Bodin (Maple Grove, Minn.) was
fifth in 2:07.64.

Sophomore Ryan
Korslin (Rudolph, Wis.) produced the top finish for the Phoenix men on
Saturday, racing to a fourth-place effort in the 200 breaststroke in 2:02.58.
Poelmans was fifth in the 200 breast in 2:02.81, while senior Jonathan Lesniak (McHenry, Ill.) was
sixth in 2:03.33.

Senior diver Mitchell
Spaeth (Fredonia, Wis.) turned in an exceptional performance in his final
Horizon League meet, placing fifth on the 3-meter board with an impressive
score of 322.40.

For more on the 2013 Horizon League Swimming and Diving
Championships, including complete recaps and results from each day, please visit
the Championship
Central Page on GreenBayPhoenix.com.